Donell Jones

Donnell Jones was the son of a pastor and spent a lot of his childhood acting out in church. At eleven, his mother bought him a keyboard and he taught himself to play. With his father's influence as a gospel singer, Jones found himself moving towards music. Nevertheless, Jones wasn't keen on pursuing music until high school when he saw the response it brought from girls.

In 1993, Jones got his big break in Washington, D.C. He went to the Black Radio Exclusive conference witha singing group he'd joined and did a showcase. Unfortunately, nobody went to their show and so they ran into the lobby and just sang for anyone they could find. It paid off as Untouchable Entertainment Group CEO Edward 'Eddie F' Ferrell signed the group.

The deal went sour and Jones returned to Chicago discouraged. But Eddie F had been impressed with Jones and called him back for a solo career. Jones quickly caught the eye of Sean 'P. Diddy' Combs after penning the song 'You Took My Heart' from Usher's first album. Jones went on to pen Usher's first top ten hit, 'Think of You,' as well as tracks for 702 and Silk.

After arranging a deal with LaFace Records, Jones released his debut album, My Heart. The album featured a remake of Stevie Wonder's 'Knocks Me Off My Feet' which reached #14 on the R&B charts and #49 on the Hot 100.

In 1999, Jones sophomore album brought him to the public eye. Where I Wanna Be, went platinum and had the hit single 'U Know What's Up' that went gold. The single topped the R&B charts and reached #7 on the Hot 100. The title-track of the album also did well, reaching #2 on the R&B charts.

Life Goes On, Jones third album, was released in 2002 and managed to go gold. In 2006, Jones released his fourth album, Journey of a Gemini.